Russian FM: Russia Doesn't Consider Itself Side In Ukrainian Conflict

Russia urges its partners not to consider it a side in the conflict in Ukraine, said the country's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

“We are ready to continue the dialogue with the understanding that it must be honest, equal in rights, without attempts to be presented as a side in the conflict,” Lavrov said, quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax.

Lavrov has warned on Friday US Secretary of State John Kerry that imposing sanctions in response to the Ukraine crisis will have a "boomerang effect against the US itself".

In a telephone conversation between the two men, Lavrov said that "hasty and unthought-through steps are capable of causing harm to Russian-US relations".

The US State Department said that Kerry had "underscored the importance of finding a constructive way to resolve the situation diplomatically, which would address the interests of the people of Ukraine, Russia and the international community.

On Thursday, the US imposed visa bans on an unspecified number of Russian and Ukrainian individuals. Further visa bans, asset seizures and bans on Russian companies doing business in the US could follow. The EU has suspended talks designed to smooth economic relations with Russia.